'Brace for a slowdown'‘Brace for a slowdown’

University of North Dakota aerospace students were advised to “brace for a slowdown” in airline industry hiring but to be poised for a recovery that could occur “dramatically” once the coronavirus pandemic has passed.

University of North Dakota aviation students and instructors participate in flight training activities. Photo courtesy of the University of North Dakota.

The information was delivered during an online Aviation Industry Speaker Series forum created by UND aerospace faculty that allowed them to communicate directly with aviation students facing withering job prospects during the pandemic.

However, educators presented a chart that followed aviation industry revenues from 1950 to 2012 that included a “slightly zigzagged but always upward-trending track.” The trend showed a resilience to global disturbance and “an ability to rebound in exponential fashion,” the school wrote in a blog.

“Those of us who’ve lived through difficult events, such as 9/11 and the Great Recession, knew people who would say the industry would never be the same, or profits would never return,” UND Aviation Department Chair Jim Higgins told the students. “When you see the data, it demonstrates that time and again we always respond and recover. Not only do we recover, we grow stronger.”

Higgins was joined on the forum by UND Director of Aviation Industry Relations Kent Lovelace and UND Aviation Associate Professor Brandon Wild.

Additional forums included presentations from Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, FedEx, and the National Business Aviation Association.

David Tulis

Associate Editor Web/ePilot

AOPA Associate Editor Web/ePilot David Tulis joined AOPA in 2015 and is a seaplane-rated private pilot who enjoys vintage aircraft, aerobatic flying, and photography.